Machinists Urge Airlines to Focus on Core Business

WASHINGTON, April 11/PRNewswire-USNewswire/-- International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) General Vice President Robert Roach, Jr. today issued the following statement on current airline industry maintenance and customer service concerns:

"The recent grounding of aircraft and stranding tens of thousands of passengers due to maintenance compliance issues are just symptoms of a much larger industry problem.

Airlines are increasingly outsourcing critical aspects of their maintenance programs, replacing customer service representatives with computers and failing to provide passengers with the service they pay for.

The airline industry is providing the worst customer service in its history after slashing jobs and cutting employee wages. Consumer complaints were up 60 percent last year, and more than a quarter of all flights experienced delays. This is all occurring while executives at major airlines are considering mergers to create even larger, more unmanageable carriers, producing bigger headaches for passengers.

The Machinists Union is urging executives at all airlines to refocus their efforts to provide superior safety and customer service to passengers. This industry is in chaos and senseless mergers will only make things worse."

The Machinists Union is the largest Airline and Rail Union in North America, representing more than 170,000 Flight Attendants, Customer Service Agents, Reservation Agents, Ramp Service Personnel, Mechanics, Railroad Machinists and related transportation industry workers. Additional information about the Machinists Union is available at www.goiam.org/transportation.